Mahatma
Gandhi wrote the following letter in reply to the 'open letter' sent to him by
Shri Tathachariar, son-in-law of the Ex-President of the Indian National
Congress, Shri C. Vijayaraghavachariar of Salem. In this 'open letter' Shri
Tathachariar had stressed the need for the 'purification' of the Harijans before
they could be granted entry into the temples:
"Dear Friend,
What you have marked as an 'open letter' has been duly received by me. I confess that
your argument does not appeal to me. I hold strongly the view that it is the
caste Hindus who have to undergo purification and do penance and not the
Harijans, as even for their outward cleanliness the caste Hindus are
responsible. Internally, we do not know who is unclean, but we can infer from
our past experience that the privileged and powerful are more unclean at heart
than the down trodden and despised.